By Chinedu Adonu
Stakeholders in tertiary institutions across the South-East have called for increased intervention by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) in infrastructure, information and communication technology (ICT) and campus security.
The call was made at a community engagement forum organised by TETFund in collaboration with Alim & Associates, consultants to the Fund, as part of an impact and needs assessment of TETFund interventions in tertiary institutions across the region.
Speaking at the forum, Professor Tony Renish of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), said 22 institutions from Enugu and Ebonyi states participated in the assessment.
Renish, who is Deputy National Research Lead and South-East Coordinator for data collection, said the exercise was aimed at assessing the impact of previous TETFund interventions and identifying outstanding needs.
“We have written a report, and the essence of this community engagement is for representatives of the institutions to review the report, identify the gaps and discuss the issues so that the final report will reflect the actual needs of the institutions,” he said.
The Team Lead of the Impact and Needs Assessment Project, Professor F.O. Anafi, said questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions and visits to project sites were used to gather data for the preliminary report.
He said the engagement was designed to enable participating institutions to correct inaccuracies and provide additional information before the final report.
The Managing Partner of Alim & Associates, Engineer M.A. Yusuf, said the outcome of the South-East exercise would be presented at a national engagement in Abuja and harmonised into a master document to guide future TETFund interventions.
A Deputy Rector of Federal Polytechnic Oko, Dr Nkiruka Akabike, called for accurate data to ensure that interventions addressed the genuine needs of institutions.
“It is one thing to give you an intervention; it is another thing to give you a needed intervention,” she said.
Akabike identified erosion control, internal roads, perimeter fencing, security and upgrading of existing facilities as some of the institution’s major needs.
A community leader from the area hosting David Nweze Umahi University of Medical Sciences, Dr Okoro Nwaeze Ogbonnaya, also urged TETFund to strengthen security interventions, including the provision of accommodation for security personnel within the university premises.
He said the measure would enable security personnel to respond promptly to threats, particularly as the institution operates a 100 per cent boarding system.
Also speaking, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, UNN Enugu Campus, Professor Josaphat Chukwuemeka Onwumere, urged TETFund to sustain and expand its interventions.
Onwumere said first-generation universities faced serious infrastructural challenges arising from ageing facilities and increasing student populations.
He called for the provision of more hostels, classrooms, faculty buildings, erosion control projects and ICT facilities.
“Today’s world is driven by technology, especially ICT. Such interventions are very necessary and critical, and we need more of it in the University of Nigeria,” he said.
He also urged TETFund to give adequate attention to the needs of universities, polytechnics and colleges of education across the country.
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